Top
d
Arise Beauty Blog

Arisé Beauty

Claire is a 42 year old mother of 3 from AMPTHILL, Bedfordshire who was diagnosed with stage 3 breast

cancer December 2021, and raised over £100k in just 12 weeks for treatment not available in the UK. And all

while she was having chemotherapy…

 

My Story

 

On 8 th December 2021 I was given the devastating news that I had breast cancer. It’s a day I will never forget, and

one that has changed my life forever.

Before I’d had the chance to come to terms with the news I then found out that I have an inherited cancer gene

mutation (ATM) which increased my chances of having breast cancer.

 

In February 2022 I had a double mastectomy with reconstruction and all the lymph nodes on my left side were

removed. I then started 6 months of chemotherapy.

In order to kill any cancer cells left in my chest area and to reduce the risk of reoccurrence the next stage of treatment

would normally have been radiotherapy but I was born with a completely unrelated chest condition called pectus

excavatum, meaning the radiotherapy would have caused damage to my heart & lungs due to the positioning of my

breast bone.

 

For the reasons above conventional radiotherapy was not advised and I needed to have a treatment called Proton

Beam Therapy. This is a form of radiotherapy but it is much more targeted and precise. The challenge is that it is not

offered under the NHS in England for breast cancer and there are no private centres in the UK that provide this

specialist treatment. The only option I had was to go outside of the UK. The cost of this and all associated costs

were in excess of £100k.

 

My family, friends and community came together to arrange fundraising events in the coming months and in just 12

weeks we raised the amount needed for me to have my treatment. In the first week through gofundme donations

alone we raised £28k as a result of our social media campaign. This led to a huge response from my community and

before I knew it people were arranging bake sales, golf days, parties, raffles and many more events to ensure I could

get the money for my treatment.

 

On 5 th September 2022, leaving my family behind, I travelled to India for almost 6 weeks to be treated at The Apollo

Proton Cancer Centre in Chennai. I had 25 fractions of Proton Beam Therapy, met the most wonderful people in the

process and finally returned home on 16 th October 2022.

I am now back at work full time and enjoying this precious life that I have been gifted, not without the fear of my breast

cancer re-occurring but certainly much more fulfilled than I’ve ever been.

Claire xx

Instagram: @clairesboobbattle

Facebook: Clairesboobbattle

Twitter: @boobbattle

Post a Comment

"We highlight social and community issues of a woman by making thought provoking short films".
You don't have permission to register

Reset Password